Did you spot our April Fool’s Day prank?: Cars set for Guild Wheel

Roads bosses have proposed opening a section of Preston’s Guild Wheel to cars to help bust congestion in the city.

Cyclists and walkers will have to budge up make room for vehicles under the new plans to ease pressure on jam-packed roads, including Brockholes Brow and Tom Benson Way.

Mickey Taik, head of roads innovation for Preston, said the idea had come to him after seeing shared cycleways on a fact-finding mission to Laffinstock in Sweden.

Mr Taik said: “The shared space at Fishergate has worked so well, we thought we should extend the idea elsewhere.

“The Guild Wheel is nice and wide and has plenty of spare capacity to take on a bit of extra traffic.

“The Swedes are really leading the way, though we’re not sure if we’ll be able to fit trams on there like they do.”

Roads bosses have appointed top Swedish roads designer, Poolin Mah-Leg, to take the ambitious project forward.

Miss Mah-Leg, from Wyndup Engineers, said: “It’s all about getting the priorities right to make it work. In Laffinstock, we decided that commuters in cars have right of way in the morning when it’s busiest, while mums with buggies have priority at lunch-times so they can go out for a nice stroll.”